The cartoon cover kicked off a national debate across the US: a muscular China standing on a beach, pushing a skinny Uncle Sam around in the sand. 'Is the US a 97-pound weakling?' the Forbes magazine cover story asked.
Inside, it argued that it was, stating that the US was losing its competitive edge to China, whose universities pumped out more than 800,000 engineers in 2004 compared to just 222,335 in the US. That unflattering comparison flew around America, appearing in think-tank reports, politicians' speeches and newspaper editorials, all fretting that the country was about to be overtaken by China.
Voices in the US began calling for a cold-war-like arms race to churn out more scientists and engineers to help the US catch up with China. But while nervous Americans continue to wring their hands, it is becoming increasingly clear that China's army of engineers is not about to help it elbow its way past the US - at least not just yet.
This was made clear last week at a conference on engineering education at the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, where Chinese educators were told that despite having the world's largest number of engineering students, China still lacked well-trained professionals.
University vice-president Tu Shandong told the gathering of 100 engineering educators that while the mainland could be proud of its engineering programmes, an increasing number of employers were beginning to ask 'embarrassing questions' about the lack of professional knowledge, poor communication and teamwork skills among Chinese engineering majors.
Last October, McKinsey & Co, in a report entitled 'China's looming talent shortage', argued that despite the mainland's vast number of university graduates, few had the skills to work in world-class companies. It warned that the situation had 'serious implications for the multinationals now in China and for the growing number of Chinese companies with global ambitions'.